Book Review

What the Hand Holds

The Indian National Congress not only steered India to freedom but also guided it through the hazardous early years of independence to emerge as a nation. Throughout that arduous journey, the basic character of the idealist conception of a modern nation has been maintained. Some feel the Congress has been able to do so without any specific ideology guiding its way. Incredible though this may sound, the Congress is considered a centrist organisation that incorporates all the influences and schools of thought that India has to offer.

Ashish Talwar’s book is a sparkling attempt to define the ideology of India’s oldest and largest political party. Congressism is defined as a doctrine that seeks to establish a democratic and secular government, with reservational representation for socially challenged sections in proportion to their numerical strength, the ultimate aim of which is to establish a welfare state.

The book rubbishes those who believe that the ideology of the Congress is Left to Centre, that is, the Congress is leftist but not Marxists or Communist. On the opposite end, the Indian National Congress is called Conservative but not rightist. According to Talwar, those who believe that the ideology of the Indian National Congress cannot be defined, are doing so from fear of exposure of the hollowness of their ideologies.

The book brilliantly counters the thought that the economic policy of the Congress has changed with the development of the Indian economy. While every political party in world history has demonstrated changes in ideological character over a period of time because of political expediencies, the Congress has done so for the health of the Indian economy and the betterment of its people. The book quotes Rajiv Gandhi who was most critical of these ‘positional’ shortcut explanations of the Congress ideology and said, ‘There is no question of Left or Right or Left of Centre or Right of Centre. It is a question of what is good for India today.’ The liberalisation process set into motion in the Eighties has taken into account the shifting paradigms in relation to the global economic situation and that prevailing in the country.

A need for clear ideological elucidation has been accentuated due to the attempts by non-Congress political formations at redefining and obfuscating the tenets that the Indian National Congress has stood for. These attempts at distortion are not limited to the Congress’ ideology, the Sangh Parivar has made insidious efforts to underplay and distort the contribution of Congress leaders with a view to promoting to national prominence those whose contribution was obscure.

The tenets of Congressism - secularism, nationalism, democracy, its economic and foreign policy - have all been dealt with. Incredible though it may sound, in the long history of the Congress there has been no book on the ideology of the Congress.

Congressism is a valuable book for those who want to study the role of the Congress’ ideology in its growth and survival for the past 117 odd years.

- Pankaj Vohra
(Courtesy- The Hindustan Times)

DEPCO Felicitates Congressism Ashish Talwar was felicitated by Shri Salman Khurshid, Chairman, AICC Department of Policy, Planning and Coordination (DEPCO) on the publication of his book, Congressism: The Ideology of the Indian National Congress. Senior leaders of the Congress, including CWC members and AICC office bearers were invited for the programme that was held at 99 South Avenue, the office of DEPCO on 12th of March, 2003. Introducing the book and welcoming those present, Shri Salman Khurshid appreciated the hard work put in by the young author. Ashish Talwar spoke on why he felt the need for such a book in today’s political situation and gave an outline of the tenets of Congressism that form part of the book. Senior leaders who were present were: Dr. Manmohan Singh, Shri Arjun Singh, Shri K. Natwar Singh, Shri Ahmed Patel, Shri Oscar Fernandes, Shri Balram Jakhar, Shri Mahavir Prasad, Shri Sunil Dutt, Shri Anil Shastri, Shri Anand Sharma, Shri Satyavrat Chaturvedi, Shri Subodh Kant Sahay, Shri Satpal Maharaj, Shri Vishwajit Prithvijit Singh, Justice Ranganath Mishra, Shri Jairam Ramesh, Major Ved Prakash, Major Dalbir Singh, Captain Praveen Davar and Ms. Archana Dalmia.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh inaugurating a conference organised by state Mahila Congress in Bhopal. Others who spoke at the convention were Pradesh Mahila Congress president Smt. Shobha Ojha, Rajya Sabha MP, Shri Suresh Pachauri, Smt. Garag and Saroj Patel.